Mexican family journey ends with legacy entrenched in Johnstown

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The Molinars, the Riveras, the Botellos, the Holguins — each of these families represent the salt of the earth of Johnstown.

The roots of these families, which began in Mexico, are now firmly planted in the small northern Colorado town destiny chose for them. Fleeing poverty and the economic displacement from the Mexican Revolution of 1910, these families sought refuge in another Ellis Island. And like the 12 million German, Italian and Irish immigrants who fled to the United States between 1892-1954, they crossed borders, their hearts filled with hopes and dreams of a better life for themselves and their children:

The life story of Don Ignacio Rivera reflects the journeys of these huddled masses seeking freedom and the pursuit of the American Dream. Don Ignacio Rivera, or “Nacho,” was born in Chicago in 1923 to Juan and Martina Rivera, who had crossed the border from Mexico into the United States seeking employment. Don Nacho spent the first four years of his life experiencing first-hand his parents’ search for socio-economic betterment in the United States. He would later return with his parents to San Ignacio, a small pueblo in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico, where he would spend the next 20 years. “It was a small, peaceful life, though sad. We lived in a small adobe house, very poor,” Don Nacho explained when I interviewed him. It was there in a small ranchito that this proud, humble man would learn the value of hard work, helping his father plant corn and cotton.

“My father was very hardworking. Era pobre como yo.”

It was also there in San Ignacio where Nacho fell in love with Maria Francisca Nevel or “Kica,” creating a love that would endure the test of time amidst economic difficulties. A love that would produce 10 children — Leo, Jesse, Lupe, Socorro, Tony, Gloria, Johnny, Olivia, Irma, Sally and an adopted son, Adam. A love that would transcend time, transcend borders. In 2011, Nacho and his wife would celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary in Johnstown surrounded by 35 grandchildren, 59 great-grandchildren and 16 great-great grandchildren.

“Era mi primer amor. She was 15 and I was 18. I knew I wanted to join my life with hers. We fell in love. I asked her if she would go with me and she said yes. So we went the first night to stay with friends in San Ignacio, then we went to Juárez for a few days. Then we went back to the ranchito. Luego nos casaron. That was the custom back then. The girls would go with the man, then they would marry.”

Don Nacho and his young bride would spend their first seven years of marriage in San Ignacio. Nonetheless, the economic hardships of the post-revolutionary era in Mexico would force Nacho and his family to leave their beloved ranchito.

“A lot of people left San Ignacio when they didn’t have any water to work the land. We didn’t have any work, so I came to the U.S. to work. We didn’t have anything, not even water.”

Nacho first crossed the U.S./Mexican border into Fabens, Texas, where he worked for a rancher picking cotton and alfalfa. His wife and children would join him several weeks later. They lived in Fabens for almost a year-and-a-half, returning to San Ignacio one more time, then crossing the border again into Denver City, Texas. Nacho would stay in Denver City with his family for three years, working in the cotton fields.

It was then that destiny intervened in Don Nacho’s life, taking him to Johnstown, where he would remain with his family until his death on Jan. 20, 2013. Upon visiting with his parents who had moved from Mexico to Johnstown, Nacho made the decision to move his family there in order to be closer to his parents.

“Kica didn’t like Johnstown, but I did. I still do. This is where we’re all buried. My parents, uncles, aunts, cousins, everyone is here now.”

Nonetheless, the pursuit of the American Dream during the 1940s and ‘50s proved difficult for Don Nacho and countless other Mexicans living in the small agricultural towns of northern Colorado. Like my own parents and those of many other Mexican and Chicano families whose roots are embedded in Johnstown, Nacho joined the marginalized groups who became a source of cheap labor for the local farmers. They lived in run-down shacks, making only enough money to support their families.

“We all worked in the sugar beets (fields). We lived in different ranches. I remember the snow would come in through the holes. No electricity. Wood stoves. We went to the bathroom in ‘tinas’ or outside. I would get up at 3 a.m. to start the stove. The first house was real bad. In the second house it was better. All the workers were mexicanos. We were paid $200 a month. That was enough to eat on. And with my Amá and Apá, we were around 13 and we all ate. I don’t know how, but we did.”

Times were indeed hard back then if you were a Mexican. Not only did Don Nacho work seven days a week — barely earning enough to feed his family — but he endured the discriminatory attitudes of the time.

“Tenían al trabajador como a nadie. Some discriminated. Some were good. They paid very little. They didn’t speak any Spanish. We had to go cut wood, we’d cut branches. We would sometimes go to the dump to get wood. It was very difficult. They didn’t even know if people needed wood. It was all about work. They would give us credit at the store. Every two weeks I would buy food. Sometimes I wouldn’t have any money left, but I would still pay them.”

Despite the intense anti-Mexican sentiment of that era, Don Nacho would remain in his beloved Johnstown until his death. He eventually left farm labor, working seasonally at the local Great Western Sugar Factory and later at the Johnstown Feed and Seed, where he was employed for 10 years.

“I learned to work hard from my parents. I didn’t have any education, any schooling here, a little in Mexico.”

Yet, Nacho never forgot his life on the ranchito in San Ignacio.

“I loved being outdoors, the fresh air. In the sugar factory it was indoors all the time, noise from the factory, the smell. I still like the rancho. My daughter, Gloria, came out like me. She lives on a rancho.”

Like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and César Chávez, the humble beginnings and life story of Don Ignacio Rivera have influenced the lives of many. Nacho’s legacy will remain in the historical archives of Johnstown. Virtually uneducated and speaking very little English, Nacho has contributed significantly to the history and local economy. During his many years in Johnstown, he purchased several homes, as well as an apartment building. Nacho’s children would go on to model their father’s hard work ethic and entrepreneurial skills, developing their own local businesses — Leo’s Place, Kica’s and Nacho’s, Lozano Insurance and Ultimate Style — which have contributed to the local economy of Johnstown. There is no doubt that Don Nacho’s tenacity and his endless pursuit of the American Dream embody the spirit and greatness of a true American hero.

At the end of our interview, when I asked Don Ignacio what his greatest accomplishment was, he did not hesitate.

“Tener una familia como ésta. My family is my greatest accomplishment. My children’s success. I never had money to give them, but I taught them to work, to be hard-working. I get sentimental. Muy unidos, día y noche. They have to work, but as soon as they get out, they come to the house. They all come to eat. They talk, they shout. I get so happy.”

Hasta pronto, Don Nacho. Until we meet again …

Gloria L. Velásquez is an internationally known writer and poet who graduated from Roosevelt High School in 1967. She is also honored alumni from the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley where she became the first Chicana to be inducted into its Hall of Fame in 1989. In 1998, Stanford University honored Velásquez with the “Gloria Velásquez Papers,” archiving her life as a writer and humanitarian. This piece originally ran in the Johnstown Breeze.